Tiger Woods in danger of missing Memorial Tournament cut

Tiger Woods faces an anxious wait at the Memorial Tournament after a four-over 76 left him at three over par, one shot outside the projected cut mark.

World number one Rory McIlroy had a level-par 72 to stay two under.

Ryan Palmer (68) and Tony Finau (69) lead on nine under with half the field still to complete their second rounds.

Overnight leader Finau dropped two shots in his first three holes but three birdies in his final five holes saw him move level with Palmer, who has had only one bogey in his opening two rounds.

They lead world number two Jon Rahm by one shot after he hit a five-under 67. A victory this weekend could see Rahm become only the second Spaniard after Seve Ballesteros to lead the world rankings.

McIlroy and Woods fight hard

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy had a disastrous start, bogeying his first hole, the 10th, and then double bogeying the 11th after driving into water from the tee.

A pair of birdies on the 14th and 15th holes were followed by another bogey and after cancelling out another birdie with a bogey on the back nine, he holed a nine-foot putt for eagle on the fifth and birdied the sixth to get to three under.

However, his round ended disappointingly with a three-putt bogey from 33 feet on the ninth.

Woods, playing alongside McIlroy and in his first professional event in five months, dropped six shots in eight holes and was looking set to definitely miss the cut when he also bogeyed the sixth to leave him five over with three to play.

He rallied with a birdie on the par-five seventh and rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on the eighth to get to three over.

However, a wild drive on the par-four ninth meant he was unable to reach the green in two and he had to settle for a par and a nervous wait to see if the cut mark moves out by a shot.

“Well, not very good,” was Woods’ assessment of his round. “I three-putted two holes early and, whatever kind of momentum I was going to create, I stifled that early and fought it the rest of the day.”